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Ghana ~ Trip 1, Day 8

Off to a rough start, I woke in the middle of the night not feeling well. When I tried to climb back into bed, the children had sprawled out again, limiting space for me to squeeze into. I eventually managed to maneuver under the covers and fall back asleep.

When we all woke for the day, I was still feeling ill, so Sam took care of feeding the kids (and himself) breakfast while I stayed in bed. We skyped with the girls at home before we eventually had to leave the room so housekeeping could tidy up…so out to the pool we went! I stayed on land & took photos. Boy am I glad I did! Cora got over her fear of the water like magic today. She has been VERY hesitant in the pool to this point, only going in with a firm grip on Mommy or Daddy. Today…all fear went away & she started jumping into the pool (with floaties on) over and over again! She still wants Daddy to be near her, as she can’t quite make it where she wants to go so she needs her Daddy to push her in the right direction (she squeals like a howler monkey when he jokingly pushes her away from the ladder instead of towards it…it’s quite comical). Liam has also found his fins and is much more confident in the pool without hanging on one of us (still wearing floaties, of course).

The kids also got a chance to try out the jump ropes we brought…that was an, ummm, experience?! They liked swinging them around double-dutch style and Liam was quasi-successful in actually jumping rope himself. Cora doesn’t quite have the coordination needed yet (she is only 3-1/2). One of the guards here at the hotel was adamant that Liam needed to learn and he sort of pushed us aside in order to “instruct” our son. We had already been telling him the same things (it’s not like the guard was teaching him in Twi as opposed to English). The hard part is culture…I don’t know what is/isn’t acceptable in regards to these situations. At home I could have politely said “thank you…we’ve got it under control” and that would have likely been the end of it. Here, however, we walk on eggshells. We still reside at this hotel for 3 more days, so I really don’t want to offend anyone. When the guard went off to do something, I quickly gathered our belongings and we returned to our room for showers & nap time.

Cora fell asleep on my back, so I didn’t get much of a nap…but I did get some emails returned, so at least I was productive while everyone else slept. With the sun setting around 6:30 each night, we like to go to dinner early so we aren’t walking back to the hotel in the bitter dark of night. In order to accomplish this today, we had to wake the children to go. UGH. That did NOT go well. Cora whimpered and whined all the way to the restaurant and until her food came (which she wasn’t even willing to feed herself). Thankfully she cheered up after devouring about 1/2 of her dinner and then happily walked “home”.

As I type this, the kids are in their jammies watching Veggie Tales (Cora LOVES to sing along with Larry) and snuggling Daddy. I’m feeling marginally better than when I awoke this morning…but I have yet to find food in Ghana I actually like and my snack supply is nearing depletion. As much as I don’t want to leave these kids, I am SO looking forward to some American food!!!

Tomorrow has no plans. Maybe we’ll head to the mall or a market. Maybe we’ll just enjoy this time together at the hotel. Only time will tell. For now…I’m off to snuggle my little Ghanaian angels as they drift off to sleep. Good night from Ghana!